Cancer death rate in the UK has dropped 16% in last 20 years, new data shows
17 December 2022, 10:20 | Updated: 17 December 2022, 11:33
The UK's overall cancer death rate has dropped 16% since Cancer Research UK was founded, according to new data provided by the charity.
It said in in the early 2000s, 310 in every 100,000 people died from cancer each year, but it's now around 260.
Contributing factors include research into more effective treatments, screening programmes improvements, and strategies that help prevent the disease from developing in the first place, it's said.
There have been even bigger death rate drops for some cancers like cervical cancer, which saw a 33% decrease.
The survival rates for lung cancer have also doubled.
Around 10% of people with lung cancer in England survived for at least five years in the mid-2000s, that figure is now 20%.
Cancer Research UK said this was partly due to research the charity funded into early diagnosis and treatment.
"Improvements in cancer death rates are a result of widespread contributions from across the research landscape. But it's clear that CRUK's impact has been an important part of this progress," it said.
£5.4bn has been invested since its founding in February 2002, which has involved 3,000 researchers across 350 institutions.
At least £1.5bn of research spending is planned by the charity over the next five years.
It said drugs that are connected to its research are used to treat over 125,000 patients in England annually.
Chief Executive Michelle Mitchell said "every penny of money donated has helped to revolutionise what we know about cancer and saved many lives".
But, she warned there was "still a long way to go" as cancer targets continue to be missed and UK survival rates lag behind comparable countries.
